This invention generally relates to the field of medical diagnostics where tools or implements are deployed in a urine capturing process for subsequent laboratory analysis. More specifically, the present inventive technology focuses upon devices, systems, kits and their method of use in securing animal urine specimens in the field and storing those specimens for subsequent veterinary testing. The novel invention is particularly suited for capturing urine from domestic pets such as dogs, but may of course have broader application, for example for zoo animals, farm animals and the like.
It is well known, for example, that family pets such as dogs may encounter a number of health issues resulting in a veterinarian's requirement for a urine specimen for laboratory testing. For instance, dogs may develop kidney disease or even chronic kidney failure as a result of nephritis brought on by bacterial invasion. Dogs also may develop diabetes which generally calls for a regular schedule of testing of urine glucose levels. Urine analysis is used for a variety of other pet maladies such as hyperadrenocorticism (also known as Cushing's disease) or leptospirosis. Detection and treatment of such conditions almost always involve testing and regular monitoring of urine samples.
Uncontaminated urine samples, when required, are taken by veterinarians through a technique known as cystocentesis. This procedure involves withdrawal of a urine sample directly from the pet's bladder by means of an inserted needle. Another option is to take a urine sample by means installing a bladder catheter. These techniques may or may not require pet sedation but, in any case, can be relatively expensive for the pet owner. Invasive collection also poses risk of new infections. For these reasons, and when appropriate, a veterinarian may suggest alternative, indirect collections of less “perfect” specimens (e.g., those deposited under field conditions). Field collection methods, though simple and straightforward in concept, pose considerable challenges in execution.
Pet owners (or caretakers) who have been sent home to capture a pets' fresh urine samples and to preserve them for clinical analysis often will turn to the more obvious collection implements such as spoons, cups, saucers and soup ladles. They quickly find this more difficult than expected and their pets less than cooperative. Duck-walking while stalking a pet, grasping a leash in one hand and soup ladle in the other, surely strains the pet owner's back and knees, not to mention the strain on their patience and dignity.
Creative owners have been known to wire or tape small pie pans or margarine tubs to broom handles or yardsticks. Others report regularly restricting their pets' walks to confined pathways across plastic sheets from which puddles are siphoned, drained or soaked into a sponge. With each makeshift innovation, efforts to transfer tediously collected urine pose still greater challenges, the more serious among these being accidental spills on hands and clothes. With some pet ailments such as leptospirosis (mentioned above), urine contact on the pet owner's skin can pose truly serious consequences.
This is a growing national problem, particularly in light of the significantly increased attention and wealth directed toward the healthcare and wellbeing of domestic pets. The arrival of major advances in animal disease detection and treatment technologies is accompanied by significantly increased demands for urine sample collection. Increased demand for specimen collections have brought no significant improvement changes in capture techniques, nor have pet handlers' skills improved. A few inventors have stepped forward with possible solutions, but with only very limited success.
The Yastrebov U.S. Pat. No. 7,214,199 presents a collection tray or catch basin with a funnel at one end of the tray basin. Threadably interconnected at the funnel end tap point is a collection bottle. Once urine is deposited into the basin, the entire device is tilted toward the tap point and funneled directly into the bottle.
Yastrebov's catch basin device can be manually wielded by the pet owner, but the structural configuration requires intimate physical proximity to the urinating pet. Also, Yastrebov's design does nothing to relieve the pet handler's painfully awkward squatting pose. Moreover, as the urinating pet briefly “marks” one spot and moves ahead for further “marking,” the squatting handler cannot easily follow. Besides, the likelihood of spooking the pet with the Yastrebov device is obvious, resulting in a wary pet becoming still more non-cooperative. Most notably, Yastrebov presents no safeguards against manual contact with the specimen drips from the funnel and bottle as the latter is removed.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,128,352 issued to Phippen illustrates a pet urine collection device having an elongated handle in the form of a rod or wire which is configured to hold a cup or other container in place beneath the pet. A lid is pivoted into place and the cup or container is lifted from the handle. While the Phippen device offers the pet owner the luxury of standing rather than squatting during the urine collection stage, the collection is prone to specimen spillage and handler skin contact due to the container's open condition pending final closure.
Shinpo's published Japanese Patent Document No. JP2006-340707 is physically similar in some respects to the Phippen device (described above) in its depiction of an elongated handle to the distal end of which is mounted an absorbent sheet. However, this is not a specimen collection device. Instead, for environmental reasons, the sheet is interposed between the urinating pet and its “marking” target. Urine collected on or in the sheet would be difficult to extract as a sample and, even if it can be extracted, the specimen certainly would not have the purity required for effective analysis.
Other known urine collection systems were developed for human urine capture, but have features worth noting in the present context. For example, Sumiya's Japanese patent document No. JP2001-149265 presents a urine collecting device including a collection port at its distal end. A hose interconnects the collection port to a container where the urine will be captured. This is intended as a portable toilet configured to be stationary on a base with an upstanding collection area, not a collection device that could be inverted and extended beneath a urinating pet.
Inventors Stewart et al. disclose midstream urine sampling devices in which sample collection containers or vials are attached between proximal and distal ends of their respective devices as depicted in US Published Patent Application No. 2006/0064033 and No. 2006/0064034. Each shows a collection funnel adapted for relative placement about a urine source. A collection chamber is adapted to allow for collection of a midstream portion of a urine discharge. By purposely allowing the initial portion of the urine discharge to escape or bypass a collection chamber, the embodiments of the inventions provide for collection of a more preferred midstream portion of the discharge. Vials for collecting the samples include air relief features at their entryways to facilitate the collection.
In US Published Patent Application No. 2005/0177070, Levinson discloses a urine collection device including an elongated tubular conduit with a funnel-shaped receiver at its proximate end and an open distal end. Between the ends is positioned a detachably mounted collection container. This device of course is for collection at an upper end thereof, followed by urine flow downwardly past a collection container with the excess ejected from a bottom opening. Obviously this structure would not be suited to a urine-collecting pet owner.
Thus, presently existing technology discloses a wide range of urine sample collection systems, devices, methods and kits, some of which are suitable for capturing pet urine while others are limited to human urine sampling. Pet urine specimen collection arrangements range from home remedies such as pans and spoons to commercial hand wielded collection devices. These, as noted above are not without attendant shortcomings in terms of effectiveness and sanitary preferences.
What clearly is missing from the prior art, yet decidedly needed, is a pet urine sample capturing device, system and method which is, at once: (1) capable of managing the urine sample collection procedure from a position remote enough to be unobtrusive and non-threatening to the pet; easily manipulated and guided by a standing or ambulatory pet owner/handler; configured to be easily and steadily stationed beneath the pet during urination; tiltable without spillage to enable clean and efficient transfer of the collected urine directly into a collection bottle configured for subsequent removal without spillage or soiling the owner's clothing or contaminating the hands.
Further needed is a sample collection kit, device and method which feature simple, lightweight materials configured to be assembled and disassembled as needed, and adjustable in length to accommodate shorter or taller users. Ideally, between uses these components can be neatly and unobtrusively stored. The present invention, as will be fully discussed herebelow, provides all of these features and advantages.